When I chose my courses for summer session at PSU, I was very happy with my decision. I thought to myself, getting a public speaking class and an english class out of the way is genius. However, the first day is CAS changed my mind. I walked out of class that first day in a panic. I remember thinking, ''What did I get myself into?'' I was so intimidated and I thought there was no possible way I could stand before 25 strangers and make a speech.
After the first speech I delivered, the cultural object speech, my feelings about public speaking only got worse. When I sat down in my seat after speaking, all I wanted to do was cry because I knew I didn't do well. I wanted to drop the class all together and give up. To make matters worse, I had to watch myself speak on the recording! However, watching that recording is what changed my mind about public speaking in the long run. It inspired me to improve on the things that I knew affected my grade in the first speech. As soon as I was done writing my second speech, I practiced making my delivery stronger and more effective. The thing I focused on the most was the extemporaneous delivery and making eye contact with my audience. I was determined to do better on the next speech.
My hard work and dedication definitely helped me deliver my problem-solution speech very effectively. After delivering that speech, I walked back to my seat with a smile on my face: I knew I had achieved my goals. I felt this overwhelming sense of accomplishment and confidence. In fact, I am even looking forward to delivering the next speech. Maybe because I will have three other people up there, but mostly because of my new found confidence in my public speaking. I'm very glad I decided to stick with Cas100 because I met a lot of great people, made many memories, and found out I can deliver a speech pretty well :)
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